Uber and taxi passengers in NSW could soon be hit with additional fees to aid cab drivers.
The state government is reviewing whether to bump up compensation payments for taxi licence holders under the scheme created to support the sector after Uber’s introduction.
An increase from $20,000 to $200,000 could be funded by an extension to the temporary $1 passenger service levy, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The levy is currently set at $1 for each trip but would need to be increased to $2.18 to prop up the proposed $1b compensation package.
As of 2022, the levy had already raised $230m with $144m been paid out to taxi drivers in compensation.
The scheme was first started in NSW after txjmtzywhe arrival of Uber led to taxi licence values plummeting.
A $1b levy total would equate to about $200,000 each for state’s 5000 licence holders.
Transport Minister David Elliott told NSW parliament in March that he would prefer to be to be “more generous” with the taxi industry and increase previous compensation.
“It is my view we should be more generous,” he said.
“I do not want to see people finishing their working life as taxi drivers unnecessarily burdened by financial implications of point-to-point – of Uber.
“I want to make sure that they know that the government has got their back.”
However, Labor’s Treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey said Mr Elliot was “promising the taxi industry money he doesn’t seem to have”.
“It’s cruel to raise the hopes of licence owners, especially if the government doesn’t have firm financing in place,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“Minister Elliott needs to come clean. He owes the public an explanation about the future of the passenger service levy.”
